Today, March 7, is the commemoration of Saint Perpetua and Saint Felicity.
St. Perpetua was a young, well-educated, noblewoman and mother living in the city of Carthage in what is now modern-day Tunisia. Her mother was a Christian and her father was a pagan.
Perpetua took her mother as her role model. Her father tried to dissuade Perpetua from practicing her faith. She would hear none of it, and bravely asserted her Christianity for all to hear.
At age 22, she was jailed for being a Christian. Worse, she was imprisoned with her baby. Perpetua endured all the tortures that tried to make her give up her faith. She was sacrificed at the games for the entertainment of the pagans.
Felicity was a pregnant slave who was also in jail with Perpetua. Information about Felicity is scarce as she did not keep a diary, something that Perpetua did. She was also tortured, but upon seeing that she survived the physical and psychological abuses, the authorities had her killed by wild beasts at the games. She was also beheaded afterwards.
Before Felicity’s death, she gave birth to a daughter. The baby was taken away in secret by fellow Christians who wanted to raise her after Felicity’s death.
Perpetua and Felicity were martyred in the year 203 in Carthage. A basilica stands over their tomb in Carthage. They are two of the martyrs named in the Roman Canon of the Mass.